When European explorers began to arrive in the Americas circa 1492, the estimated number of indigenous inhabitants of North, Central and South America was 60 million. Tribes that survived the European settlement of the Eastern Seaboard of the United States eventually became an obstacle to the settlers’ goal of cultivating the New World.
Starting in 1778, the Federal government initiated the “removal period,” during which over 350 treaties were ratified by Congress. Through the use of treaties, the promise of monetary or other restitution for the loss of ancestral lands, as well as ongoing protection of and benefits to the tribes, the Federal government moved tribes west of the Mississippi River to designated geographical areas entitled reservations. By 1880, 113 reservations had been established west of the Mississippi River, including existing Pueblos in the southwest portion of the US Territory.
From 1887–1934, 60 million acres of “surplus” Indian lands were sold or transferred to non-Indians. Numerous Federal acts facilitated the transfer of approximately 27 million additional acres of Indian land to non-Indians.
The parcels of land allotted to tribal members under these Federal policies have been repeatedly divided via intestate succession. Tribal members unable to afford legal assistance in setting up estate plans passed away without any method of bequeathing their allotment to identified individuals, so the allottees’ heirs and their successors are all partial owners of the original allotment. This fractionalization of the allotted land makes the property difficult to convey or develop by the original allottee’s heirs.
On February 10, 2022, at the Mid-Year Meeting, the following panelists discussed the progress under the Federal Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal Nations, and non-profit efforts to inform tribes and facilitate reclaiming the land that was taken from them. The panelists also shared an example of a tribe that has successfully implemented a strategic plan to reclaim its rightful property with the assistance of both the Federal program and non-profit property rights organizations.
Panelist Koko Hufford has served as Land Project Manager of the Department of Economic and Community Development for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation since 2004. She is responsible for oversight of the management of Tribal lands.
Panelist Carolyn Drouin is Senior Advisor for Tribal Relations with the Department of the Interior for the Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal Nations. She serves as the principal point of contact between the program and Tribal Nations and advises senior program management on complex policy issues related to program implementation.
Panelist Cris Stainbrook is President of the Indian Land Tenure Foundation. Stainbrook, a member of the Oglala Lakota Tribe, has been working in philanthropy for 25 years and has been the President of the Indian Land Tenure Foundation since its inception in 2002.
Moderator Katharine H. Kinsman is Editor of State and Local Law News, Co-Chair of the State and Local Government Section, Tribal Law Committee, and recent author of Chapter 46, Land Use in Indian Country, Handling the Land Use Case, 3d, 2021-2022 ed.: Land Use Law, Practice & Forms, Thompson Reuters.
